Advice

Some companies may be tightening their belts a bit, but holiday bonuses are still the traditional way for companies to recognize employees’ performance for the year. Though employees usually receive their bonuses in December, Payroll must begin planning for them now.

We’re talking about year-end, not Thanksgiving. Instead of stuffing (no pun intended) year-end duties into December, you’ll lighten your load considerably by completing some key tasks now.

Completing Forms W-2, getting them into employees’ hands and e-filing with the Social Security Administration by Jan. 31, 2025, is challenging enough. Your stress compounds exponentially if, in addition, you handle Forms 1099-NEC for the company’s independent contractors. Here’s what you need to know for the upcoming 1099-filing season.

“Anyway expenses” aren’t a category of deductible business expenses. A business owner who billed himself as a tax expert peddling these “anyway expenses” and other dubious tax-avoidance strategies met his match when the Tax Court disallowed the vast majority of his expenses.

The Fair Labor Standards Act sets nationwide standards for wage-and-hour compliance and also allows employees to bring collective lawsuits against their employers for FLSA violations. Can employees who work remotely in far-flung states join together in one lawsuit and sue their employer?

You’ve heard this a million times: Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers are provided to foreign nationals with nonwork U.S. tax obligations; employees always have Social Security numbers. Third-party payroll providers’ systems, however, may accept ITINs, which can put you in line for a hefty penalty for filing incorrect W-2s. It’s a tough bind you don’t want to find yourself in.

The Department of Labor has identified the potential 2024 FUTA credit-reduction states.